Scott's victory draws comparisons with Woods

Adam Scott after holing the winning putt at the Players Championship in Florida.
Picture: Getty Images

Adam Scott rolled in a three-metre putt at the 18th green and, for a moment, dropped his customarily calm facade. He pumped his fist and hurled his hat to the ground.

It signified the biggest moment of his relatively brief career, but it would have surprised a few people who have seen him rise to the cusp of greatness without so much as a ripple of publicity or fanfare or anything approaching a tantrum or a handstand.

But not so others. "There are only a few of us who know how much fire's in the belly," said Phil Scott, his father, who watched his 23-year-old son's triumph in Florida on television with his wife, Pam, at home on the Gold Coast yesterday.

Scott won the Players Championship, regarded as the biggest tournament outside the four majors, by a shot from Ireland's Padraig Harrington.

Scott, whose maiden victory on the US PGA Tour came last year, earned $1.92 million and left Tiger Woods (16th), Vijay Singh (13th) and Ernie Els (26th) in his wake. By last night he had moved close to the world's top 10 players, at No.12; certainly, with a third at the Bay Hill Invitational last week and this week's triumph, he will be among the favourites for the Masters at Augusta National next week.

Yet Scott came so close to throwing it away in Jacksonville, Florida, yesterday, Melbourne time. Beginning the day with a two-shot buffer, he led by as many as four during the final round. But after narrowly missing birdie putts on the 16th and 17th that would have made it conclusive, he teed off on the 18th with a two-shot lead, knocking an iron down the fairway on the conservative path.

Then he made an astonishing error, pull-hooking his six-iron approach into the lake adjacent to the green and opening the door for Harrington, who had finished at 11 under par. Scott's eyes momentarily closed as he hit the shot, knowing it would be wet. "I chased it with my hands, flipped my hands over, and it was always going left," he said.

With a penalty drop, now he needed to get up and down from 25 metres for the bogey that would give him a closing 70 and a one-shot win. Ironically, he had received a valuable chipping lesson from Greg Norman, his boyhood hero, earlier in the week. Now Norman's sage words would have their impact.

Scott's chip checked up under the hole, leaving him a testing but straight putt. "I hit such a good chip, by my standards anyway," Scott said. "Once I knew the putt was pretty straight up there, I felt really confident I could make it. I just didn't let myself think about anything else then but making the putt. I don't get too pumped up on the golf course, but when that putt went in, I could have knocked anybody out," he said.

Asked how he would have fared without Norman's chipping lesson, Scott said: "I probably would have lost the tournament, to be honest with you, if I was chipping the same way as I did earlier in the week."

So 10 years after Norman won the same tournament, Scott was the champion. The Great White Shark said that he hoped Scott would break all his records. "I think he's technically better than when Tiger Woods was 23," said Norman. "He just needs a bit of confidence and a couple of victories under his belt and he can be doing what Tiger has done the last four or five years."

Back at home in Queensland, Phil Scott's phone had not stopped ringing by late yesterday. He and his wife were mortified to see Adam pull his shot into the water on the 18th, but gratified to see he could recover. "I was surprised, but that's pressure," he said. "But it's the response to the problem that's the key to it. He just said, 'It's a chip and putt to win', and he did that. He's always said that if you've got a putt to win, you're in the game."

Jack Newton, Australia's foremost golf commentator, said Scott had arrived as a big-time player. "He's got it all," said Newton. "I think he's managed his career and game extremely well. He chose the correct path by staying in Europe and then easing himself into America. I rate his coach, Butch Harmon, as the best in the business."

Scott tees up in the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta this week to round off his preparations for Augusta. "It's got to give me a lot of confidence going to Augusta," said Scott. "Without putting too much pressure on myself, I feel like I have a legitimate chance there."